Health education manager, Summit Medical Group

Professional service: American Association of Diabetes Educators; American Diabetes Association

Community service: Partnered with local pharmacies to provide free insulin training and basic diabetes education to patients conducted education classes with local pharmacies; worked with the Get With It community outreach program in Madisonville to secure a grant to offer diabetes education to residents there

What she likes to do in her free time: Boat; participate in youth and church-related activities with husband, Jim, and their children, Paige and Parker.

Suzanne Kieltyka empowers people with chronic diseases to take charge of improving their own health."There is a need throughout the health care system to reach out to patients and have them take accountability, potentially for the first time, for their health care," says Kieltyka, health education manager for Summit Medical Group. "We're reaching out to patients, and reaching them where they are, and helping them move the needle to where they need to be."

Under Kieltyka's leadership, Summit Medical Group has established free classes on topics such as diabetes and heart disease.

"It's a strategy to help patients get to where they need to be, but on their own accord," she says.

Physicians at more than 50 Summit Medical Group offices across East Tennessee refer patients to the program.

The patients then attend a class with other patients and their family members at their doctor's office or nearby community venues to learn skills to help them manage their disease.

"Patient-centered goals are formulated based on the self-management skills they've learned to move them through the process of better disease management," she says. "Instead of being told what to do, they're actually being a part of it."

After the group class, care coordinators work with patients, their support systems and their physicians or nurses to help them achieve success. Support groups meet quarterly and patients also participate in follow-up meetings or phone calls.

"If they see success, it builds their confidence that they are able to do this," she says.

More than 1,000 patients have been referred to the diabetes program since it began in May, she says. A heart failure class started in November and she hopes to expand the program to cover chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease and smoking cessation in the coming year.

"Meeting people where they are and helping them get to where they need to be is the most satisfying job a clinician can be lucky enough to fulfill, and Suzanne fills that role perfectly," wrote Jennifer Burke, Summit's spokeswoman in nominating Kieltyka. "Success can be measured in many different ways, but for Suzanne, the ability to actually touch people and empower them to take control of their lives has been immeasurable."

In her role with Summit Medical Group, Kieltyka looks forward to bringing education to more communities about a variety of chronic diseases.

"The pinnacle of what I've done so far is what I'm doing now," she says. "What motivates me is being able to influence, impact and change people's lives."